Has been recorded from major river channels, smaller tributaries, and floodplain lakes, many of which comprise acidic, mineral-poor blackwater environments with brownish, tannin-stained water, although it has been observed to inhabit clear waters as well.

Many of its habitats lie within the Venezuelan and Colombian llanos, a vast, highly biodiverse system of tropical savannah grasslands, seasonally-flooded plains and forests covering an area measuring almost 600,000 square kilo…

Although it does penetrate the lower basins of rivers, particularly the Amazon where it has been collected from the rio Xingu several hundred kilometres from its mouth, this species is predominantly an inhabitant of mangrove swamps, estuaries, and other such saline habitats.

It is particularly common in tidal channels, shallow inshore lagoons, and the lower reaches of rivers.

Despite being a wholly unsuitable aquarium subject, C. idella is often traded as such, with an albino form having been developed specifically for the ornamental market.

Individuals which have outgrown their aquarium or pond should never be released into natural waters, either, since this species has proven capable of causing serious environmental damage under a wide range of climatic conditions.

Endemic to the Río Atrato drainage in Choco and Antioquia departments, northwestern Colombia, where the full extent of its range is somewhat unclear.

Type locality is ‘Río Truandó, a tributary of Lower Río Atrato, Colombia’, and it may be restricted to that system.

Widely-distributed throughout the Amazon, Orinoco, Essequibo, and Tocantins river systems in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Guyana.

Type locality is ‘Rio Cupai [= Rio Cupari], Rio Tapajós basin, Amazon River drainage, Pará State, Brazil’.

It differs from H. paucilepis by possessing 30-31 scales in the lateral row (vs. 28-29), 3 scales between the lateral line and anal-fin (vs. 4), 10 predorsal scales (vs. 9), ii, 9 dorsal-fin rays (vs. iii, 8), 4 maxillary teeth (vs. 1), and the distance between the dorsal-fi…

This species has had several L-numbers assigned to it, with L146 collected from an unspecified locality in Colombia and L232 from the Río Putomayo/Içá.

It’s exported for the aquarium trade under a number of different generic names including Hemiancistrus, Sophiancistrus and Peckoltichthys.

Following Armbruster (2008) it can be to…

This species was formerly included in the genus Brochis alongside C. britskii and C. multiradiatus, and is sometimes referred to as ‘common brochis’. Juveniles have a mottled colour pattern and are sometimes traded as ‘hi-fin cory’ due to their enlarged dorsal-fin.

C. splendens can be told apart from other ex-Brochis species by possession of 10-12 dorsal-fin rays…

Known with certainty from tributaries of the middle Río Orinoco between the city of Puerto Ayacucho, Amazonas state, Venezuela and the lower Río Meta, Colombia.

It may have a wider distribution within the Meta system since some reports suggest it to occur around Villavicencia, Colombia, some 600 km upriver.